Browse Notices

Blakeview: John Bel Edwards

Next Monday, John Bel Edwards will be sworn in as the 56th governor of Louisiana. But did you know that a dozen previous governors never were elected to that office? Henry Thibodaux was Louisiana's first non-colonial governor to be appointed to the job; he served just one month in 1824. In 1868, P.B.S. Pinchback was appointed lieutenant governor and then acting governor (for 35 days) following the deaths of his predecessors. He is the only African-American ever to hold the office of governor of Louisiana or to serve as governor of a Southern state during Reconstruction. In 1926, Lt. Gov. Oramel Simpson became governor when Gov. Henry Fuqua died. You may not know Simpson, but you likely know the man who beat him in the next election: Huey P. Long. Later, James A. Noe served as governor for less than four months in 1936. He's better known for his broadcasting empire, including WNOE Radio, which he owned for many years.

Let's not waste this crisis.

Democrat Walt Leger III did not lose the election for House Speaker last week. Gov. John Bel Edwards did. The new governor dug in his heels against the Republican Caucus when he should have put them on the defensive by backing one of his GOP allies for Speaker.